


tend

by pipistrelle



Series: there is a season [9]
Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 14:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1747871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipistrelle/pseuds/pipistrelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With teachers like theirs, Briar and Osprey have to stick together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tend

**Author's Note:**

> This happened because I am 100% convinced that Briar and Osprey would be best friends and fellow plant dorks after the blue pox.
> 
> SPOILERS for Briar's Book; this is set a few months after the end of that book.
> 
> It's my personal headcanon that Osprey is not a mage; I don't think it's mentioned in canon, but correct me if I'm wrong.

"Osprey!" Briar shouted. "Hey! Osprey, wait!"

The tall young woman stopped on the spiral path that led to the Hub, shading her eyes against the sun to better see the boy dashing toward her over the lawns. He skidded to a stop beside her, panting. "Have you seen --"

"Rosethorn?" Osprey asked. Briar nodded. Osprey pointed to the massive stone edifice of the Hub. "She's in with His Lordship. They're talking to the chief forester of the second biggest Yanjingyi province through a scrying-spell --"

"The emperor's rice!" Briar burst out, bouncing on his toes in excitement. "She's been talking about getting some seeds for months, I didn't think she'd actually do it! She said it was all magicked up in some secret way and it wouldn't survive…"

"Crane's going to make a special room for it in the greenhouse!" Osprey was just as excited as Briar, and looked a second away from bouncing herself. "I'm in charge of setting up the reflectors and the irrigation. Come by during the rest period someday, I'll show you everything. It's like nothing else we've ever grown!" They shared an eager smile. Briar was always amazed at how sunny Osprey was, in contrast to her crabby teacher; and, what was even better, she shared every bit of Briar's enthusiasm for plants, even though she didn't have a drop of magic.

He almost let himself get carried away in that enthusiasm, then wilted as he remembered his errand. "Lark's gonna kill me," he sighed. "I was s'posed to fetch Rosethorn back for midday. She hasn't been eating enough," he confided to Osprey. Normally he tried to keep his worries about Rosethorn quiet, especially around Rosethorn herself -- but Osprey understood. She had Crane to look after. And he didn't feel bad for burdening her with his fears the way he did with Lark. "She hasn't gained back all that weight she lost," he told the young dedicate gloomily. "It's months since the pox, and you can still see half her bones."

"Crane isn't quite that bad, but he isn't exactly being sensible about his workload either," Osprey said frankly. She smiled ruefully at him and handed him one of the empty baskets she was carrying. "Come on, we'll bring them lunch up from the kitchens. Between the two of us, I'm sure we can get them to eat enough to keep them going for a few hours."

Briar accepted the basket gratefully and fell into step with Osprey, trotting to keep up with her longer stride. "Why don't these smart folk have the sense you and me do?"

"I don't know about you, but last time I checked, I was smart," Osprey said drily. "I've got a scarier question, though -- do you think we'll become like them when we're full researchers?"

Briar spat on the ground to ward off that ill fate. "I'll never forget to eat," he declared. "No matter what magic I'm working. Anyway, I'm not going to spend my life slaving away at Crane's sort of stuff."

"You could be good at it, you know," Osprey told him with a wicked smile. "I know dedicates twice your age with half your brains."

"Me too," Briar replied. "They're commoner than weeds."

Osprey snorted. "You know, I'd never guess you were Rosethorn's boy."

Briar gave her the smile he'd perfected to charm pastries from the market women in Deadman's District. "Who, me? Must be my sweetness."

That made Osprey howl with laughter. She was still laughing when they reached the kitchens, though she couldn't explain the joke to Gorse when he arrived to greet them. By the time he'd sent them on their way with provisions, she'd gotten herself back under control. As they climbed the stairs to the scrying room with their baskets full of enough food to feed a dozen mages, she turned to Briar and said, "You know, when you get tired of getting cut to ribbons every time Rosethorn opens her mouth --"

Briar shot back his part of the familiar joke. "When you get tired of being pickled to death in sour looks --"

"When we're both tired of all that, you come work for me," Osprey announced.

They climbed the last few steps to the scrying room. The door blazed in Briar's sight with charms for clarity and wards against magical interference. Osprey paused in front of it and gave Briar a conspiratorial grin. "Let's see who goes longest without being scolded. Loser does the winner's weeding for a week."

"Deal," Briar said at once.

"That door isn't warded for sound," Rosethorn called from inside. Her speech was a bit slurred, but understandable, and much better than it had been a few months before. "Now stop dawdling -- and that goes for both of you."

As Osprey pushed open the door, Crane added, "I had not realized you were underworked. If you are so desperate for extra weeding, I am confident something can be arranged." He was as limp and emotionless as ever, but there was a hint of a pleased expression around his eyes, despite his best efforts to contain it. The onyx scrying lens on the table between the two plant mages was dark, meaning their business had finished.

"The negotiations went well, then?" Osprey said brightly.

"Tolerably," Crane sniffed. Osprey offered him her basket, and he poked gingerly at its contents before selecting a pastry to nibble on.

Briar held up his offering to Rosethorn, who looked at him sternly. "Lark sent you, didn't she?"

Over his life, Briar had had a great deal of practice at looking innocent, and all of it came to his aid now. "I dunno what you're talking about," he said airily.

"Of course you don't," Rosethorn sighed, though he could see her lips twitching. "And I suppose if I told you that I'm not hungry, you wouldn't know what those words meant, either."

"Not a clue," Briar said cheerfully.

"I'm amazed by how stupid he can be sometimes," Osprey interjected.

Rosethorn let out a bark of laughter. Briar nearly turned to glare at the young woman, but thought better of it; Rosethorn needed to laugh more. She even took the basket from him, and started unpacking the food onto the table without any more fussing. Osprey caught his eye and winked. Briar stuck out his tongue.

"Stop twitching," Rosethorn growled, reaching out to pinch his ear. "You've run your errand, boy, now get out of here. You've got weeding to do."

Briar nodded meekly like a good student and scampered out the door, knowing that Osprey would keep an eye on Rosethorn for him, at least for a little while. With teachers like theirs, they had to stick together.

"And tell Lark I don't need nursemaiding!" Rosethorn shouted after him. Briar just rubbed his stinging ear and grinned.


End file.
